All I Want Is Everything
by benjammindeth
Summary: Battered, broken, and barely holding on, only at the end will all be revealed. Wilbur Shepard is to be granted a second chance. What will he do with it?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own the characters, setting, et cetera, I'm just playing in their sandbox.

A/N: I'm jumping on the bandwagon of "ME3's endings sucked giant nappy elephant nuts!" That said, I was inspired by "The Redo" by redskin122004. Also, my Shepard looks and sounds like Soap as of MW2.

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><p>PROLOGUE<p>

Wilbur Shepard had to ask himself, 'How did it come to this?' For all his efforts, every dead friend, every hatred set aside, for it to end with either forcible transformation into cyborgs, a galactic Dark Age, or him becoming a Reaper in order to control them, what good was saving the galaxy from complete doom only to set them back? He couldn't wrap his head around any of those choices, let alone pick one.

The avatar of the Catalyst told him, "You must choose, now. Unless you want the cycle to continue."

Wilbur, burned, blackened, shot, bleeding, running on pure adrenalin, refused the not-child's attempt at forcing a decision from him. "There is always another way, except your faulty logic programming won't let you see that!"

The avatar, obstinate as ever, tried again. "You must-"

Wilbur found a bundle of cables that, if his background as an Engineer told him anything, would end the tirade, growled, "Shut the fuck up and die, you arrogant machine!" Leveling his pistol at the bundle, he fired two shots. As the avatar disappeared, he saw a Reaper, the yellow-eyed monstrosity glaring at him from space with the annoyance of a human who saw a fly impact on their vehicle's windshield.

As Wilbur hobbled back to the elevator, he saw the Reaper powering up its primary weapon and heard a voice he hadn't heard since the Alpha Relay. "SHEPARD, YOU HAVE FAILED. AS ORGANICS WILL ALWAYS FAIL."

Wilbur only had time to think, 'Harbinger,' before the red jet of molten metal punctured the level of the Citadel he was on and finished the job it had begun on Earth, vaporizing Wilbur Shepard and dooming another cycle of organics to being slaughtered by the Reapers.


	2. Afterlife?

Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own the characters, setting, et cetera, I'm just playing in their sandbox.

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><p>Wilbur opened his eyes to find that he was on the beach of a tropical island. Standing up, he saw a bar and grill to his left, a surfer's shack to his right, and towels, umbrellas, and baskets on the sand. The only thing missing was any other people whatsoever, except for the bartender. 'Great, I'm dead again. But, didn't I see some hole in the wall place last time?' Padding over to the bar, he asked the apparition, "Hey, what do you have on tap?"<p>

The apparition turned around and Wilbur saw a human male, Caucasian, roughly 190 cm, older but still fit, oddly dressed in a jumpsuit that was mostly black, but with red shoulders and a light purple underlayer. "Just about whatever you could want. I recently came across the recipe for an interesting concoction called the Mobius Strip. Would you care to try it?"

'Sounds like a good one to try before I just go for a Bud or something.' Wilbur went to set up a tab. "Sure, just let me... crap, my omnitool's fried. Sorry." He started to walk away when he heard a glass being placed on the bar.

The bartender knew a soul in need when he saw one. "This one's on the house, you're the first person I've run across lately to deserve a glass of this stuff."

Wilbur raised an eyebrow, wondering about his motives. He doubted it would be as bad as that Batarian in Afterlife. "It's that good?" The bartender nodded, and Wilbur took a sip. "Damn, this is tasty. Makes me feel like... I could do anything..."

The bartender smirked. "You could say that..."

Wilbur's head snapped up and asked accusingly, "Where am I and who are you?"

Rolling his eyes, the bartender deadpanned, "You're dead, this is the afterlife, and I'm God."

In the distance, they both heard what sounded like and older human male with a British accent exclaim, "No, I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed!"

Facepalming at the human's stubborn insistence to accept the obvious, he replied, "Mon Capitan, surely you realize that your galaxy isn't the only one I go gallivanting about in? Even the best theme parks get boring after what you would consider a few million years." With a snap of his fingers, the older human disappeared, leaving Wilbur alone with the bartender.

He had to ask, "What was that all about? And are you really God?"

Shrugging, the bartender answered, "I could be if I wanted, but no. My real name is Q, and this is my little slice of the Q Continuum. As for the argument, Picard doesn't realize that your galaxy is more interesting to me than his."

Wilbur processed that, decided that his curiosity about the man Picard's galaxy could wait, and asked Q, "So why am I here, instead of oblivion?"

Q's nonchalant answer surprised him. "To grant you another chance to defeat the Reapers. I could just remove them myself, but it's so much fun to watch what you mortals can do when properly motivated."

It hit Wilbur like James' Kodiak hit the Cerberus one on Mars. 'Another chance... ' He asked, "What must I do?"

Q's expression turned serious. "Win. I'm willing to send your soul as it is now back into your body at whatever point in time you choose, along with one other and some of those primitive OSD's your galaxy is so fond of. When in your history do you want to return?"

Wilbur mulled over it for a few minutes, debating showing up in the medical bay of _Normandy SR-1_, but decided that, "A week after the battle I was in, on Elysium. I'll have more time to prepare that way. Now, who did you have in mind for choices?"

Just then multiple flashes of white light happened at once, and when it was over holograms of Saren Arterius, the Yahg that was formerly the Shadow Broker, and The Illusive Man all stood before him. Q told Wilbur, "Choose wisely. I will only provide this opportunity once."

'Damn, no friends. Still, for when I'm going, they're the only ones with power and influence.' Not liking his options much, Wilbur asked, "Can I talk to them first? See if my former enemies know the folly of their ways?"

"They will know what they do now, whether they fully agree with you is up to them."

After several minutes of agonizing internal debate, Wilbur told Q, "I've made my decision."


	3. Choice and Reset

Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own the characters, setting, et cetera, I'm just playing in their sandbox.

"Saren Arterius."

Q smirked and responded, "Excellent choice, monsieur. Take a few minutes, then I'm sending you both back."

With a flash, Saren appeared before Wilbur, head hung in shame. "Shepard. Thank you for making me see, in my final moments." Picking his head up, he added, "I will not allow Sovereign, or any other Reaper to twist my mind again."

"It called itself Nazara." Seeing the equivalent of a cocked eyebrow, Wilbur added, "Legion, a platform from the main Geth collective, told me that." He shook his head to clear the memory of Legion uploading itself to the collective, as close to self-sacrifice as it could get. "Anyway, we're heading back to shortly after Elysium. Will that be enough time?"

Saren mused, "If we're dedicated, we can prepare, lessen the casualties this time around. I have no love for how quickly your species is expanding, but you and certain others have earned my respect."

Wilbur accepted that, knowing it was all he was going to get from Saren. "What's your first move going to be? After handing some OSD's to Alliance Intel, I'm going to be off the grid for a while, what with trying to broker a treaty between the Geth and the Quarians."

Saren nodded. "I will present my data to the Council, and find a suitable world for the Rachni after I recover the egg."

Q chose that moment to reappear with a human whiskey in his left hand, and a turian liquor in his right. He handed each drink to it's respective species and disappeared again.

Wilbur raised his glass and said, "Here's to saving the galaxy, for good this time."

Saren returned the gesture and added, "And wealthy retirement afterwards."

Both men chuckled, then downed their shots.

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><p>Wilbur awoke to see the walls of his quarters on Arcturus Station. The console on the desk in the room read 0712/2176 05:57. 'Well, here I am again. Time to make a difference.' He switched off the alarm clock function, dressed, snagged the OSD's from the desk, then left his quarters. He barely made it ten meters down the hall when a familiar voice boomed, "Lieutenant Shepard!"

He turned to be greeted by the visage of an old friend. Saluting, he replied, "Commander Anderson, sir."

David returned the salute and said, "At ease, lieutenant. Tired of the media circus yet?"

Wilbur's expression turned sober as he answered, "Yes sir. Commander, could we speak in private?"

Anderson nodded, then they both went to Wilbur's quarters. When the doors closed, David asked, "Alright Shepard, you wouldn't ask to speak in private if it wasn't something big. What's going on?"

Wilbur sighed, decided he wasn't going to lie to his mentor, and replied, "Sir, if I were to warn you of a race of sentient starships currently hiding out in dark space that culled advanced civilizations every 50,000 years, how would you take it?"

David's eyebrows threatened to make contact with his hair line, but ever the professional he coolly answered, "Anyone else, I'd think they were on a mix of Hallex, PCP and red sand. You, I'd want evidence."

Wilbur reached into his pocket, pulled out the OSD labeled 'Alliance Intel' and inserted into the Alliance-issue computer in the room, stating, "I can provide that, sir." Pulling up the file on Nazara and the damage it caused at the Battle of the Citadel, he found the composite video and hit 'Play.'

David Anderson had seen his share of space warfare, but seeing the destruction wrought by Nazara alone had him inwardly on high alert. The heretic Geth, while holding their own, were but an afterthought to him. After the hour-long video with additional data he asked Wilbur, "The giant black ship, Nazara. That was just one of these 'Reapers'? It did all that itself?"

Wilbur nodded, "Yes sir. And-"

David held up his hand and said, "Wilbur, I think we can skip formalities for now." Shaking his head, he asked, "My God, the data says there's millions of these things in existence, and a few hundred brought the galaxy to it's knees?"

Another nod. "The only reason we had a chance last time around-"

David looked at Wilbur as if he had grown four additional heads. "What do you mean, 'last time around'? Are you telling me you're from the future and you replaced your present self, or something sci-fi like that?"

Wilbur spent the next hour and a half explaining what had happened, from Eden Prime to the Q Continuum. David stayed silent, but at the end he asked, "You know how things played out. Where do you think we should start?"

Smirking, Wilbur mused, "I wonder if resolving the conflict between the Quarians and the Geth would count as a humanitarian mission?"

A bark of laughter came forth from the Commander. "It would, but Command needs to be informed about the data on that OSD. I can't even imagine how long that's going to take."

The young man confided, "David, we have ten years. It may not be enough." His expression hardened as he swore, "But I'll be thrice-damned if the Reapers committed another cycle of genocide because I was stuck in committee."

David said, "Wilbur, you've always gotten the job done, from preventing those gangbangers on Earth from mugging me, to Elysium, even to the Crucible last time. You'll get it done."

Wilbur nodded once. 'I won't fail you this time, Tali. You won't have to watch your people burn in the skies above Rannoch because one warmonger of an Admiral wouldn't listen to reason. Nor will the Reapers force me to choose. For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry about choosing the Geth instead of making peace.'


End file.
